I have a very large message board (as far as the number of forums) that needs to be fast, easy to use, good for SEO (there will be very extensive marketing of the site), and easy to customize. I currently run Simple Machines Forums, but would pay for VBulletin if was worth the upgrade. I think it was $150-$160 last time I checked? Is it worth getting the phone support as well if I go VBulletin?
I personally love vbulletin. It is more then just a basic board though. You can easily get overwelmed in a matter of minutes (even the experts do). It is very easily customizable and upgradable though. It is my absolute favorite. Their plugin & hook system for hacks is very nice as well.
My vote goes for vBulletin, it's the most professional and reliable system. It also sports a great community to help you out.
that depent on what you expect from a forum. can you explain more? but my vote goes to smf. it's free and good
I would throw my vote in for MyBB. Better than the others out there that are free, and this one is free. http://www.mybboard.com/
I'd go for vB too but check out the forums on display at www.opensourcecms.com and follow through to their own sites, read the community notices, forums etc and see if any stand out for you.
Definately Vbulletin Then. Vbulletin starts to have stability problems around when thousands are online at a time. At that point, it is still easily changable (by changing the database table types). Just look at this site, it uses vbulletin, and their are between 500-1500 users on at any given time. It has peaked at near 3000 users. I would definately say pretty damn stable. If any security flaws are brought to Jelsoft's attention, a patch or fix is usualy out within the day or two. Really big community base as well.
I recommend vbulletin as it is not much resource itensive plus vbulletin has very nice options also looks cool and loads faster then any other bulletin board Saad
I always take a look at secunia.com for any security information: phpbb: http://secunia.com/product/463/?task=statistics (cheap shot, i know) vbulletin: http://secunia.com/product/3212/?task=statistics punbb: http://secunia.com/product/3700/?task=statistics